The one-man-basement/bedroom-band project has become a contemporary Pop staple of late and one of the sub-genre’s highest profile acts over the past decade has been Jordan Mark Witzigreuter’s energetic Synth Pop contribution, The Ready Set.    

There is every other traditional Celtic Folk band on the planet and then there’s The Chieftains. Or maybe that should be the other way around; a good many critics would agree that the Chieftains single-handedly raised the profile of Irish music on a global basis and paved the way for every band that has subsequently followed a similar path.   

Clutch has been one of the primary groups to bring Stoner Rock and Alt Metal to a broader audience. Over the course of Clutch’s 23-year history, the quartet has recorded 10 studio albums — their latest, Earth Rocker, is slated for a March 19 release.
  

In the short amount of time it takes to get through the EP Synesthesia: The Yellow Movement (just under 24 minutes), Ill Poetic takes the listener on a funky, soulful trip through his creative process.   

Sara Watkins has had a deceptively long career in music despite her young age. She came onto the scene as a member of the progressive Bluegrass group Nickel Creek, which featured her brother Sean Watkins and budding genius Chris Thile.   

The garish, densely layered cover art for Animal Collective’s latest album, Centipede Hz, is just the first sign that the Baltimore-bred Psych Pop crew was intent on shifting creative gears this time out.  

In cinematic terms — and Mountains is as cinematic as any musical outfit currently crafting soundscapes — it’s as if David Lynch and his longtime composer Angelo Badalamenti wrestled the eternally ethereal Tree of Life away from Terence Malick and injected a serious dose of mood-altering menace into its penultimate scene.
  

Once again, our state capital has thoughtfully provided us with a little ass-shaking musical joy rather than the usual fist-shaking political anger, this time in the wondrous form of Jahman Brahman.    

Brian Harding and Amalie Bruun have fairly lengthy Indie Rock genealogies between them, but none of their earlier affiliations would have indicated the sonic territory staked out on True Hallucinations, their debut together as Ex Cops.    

After a 25-plus year-run, with periods of inactivity for recharging and solo projects, business ventures and a variety of causes (LGBT and political issues, the environment, among others), Amy Ray and Emily Saliers are still finding ways to make Indigo Girls relevant in the new millennium.
  

Aesop’s Indie style is reminiscent of early Beck while his rumbling vocal rasp and brilliant sense of wordplay leans in the direction of Mike Doughty, not to mention the MC’s numerous Hip Hop heroes.  

 Even though Testament may have not been considered a part of “The Big Four” at the height of Thrash, with guitarists Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson becoming, once again, the formidable tag-team they were in the ’80s, they are indisputably one of the elite Thrash bands of yesterday and today.
  

Florida Georgia Line’s first single, “Cruise,” might be a love song, but if you have any imagination at all, chances are you’re picturing “every little farm town” that runs along the states’ border. That song made the boys of Florida Georgia Line blow up practically overnight.   

For a Metal band more taken with exploring the heavenward than wreaking destruction on Earth, Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones) makes an especially sound title for an Intronaut album.   

Animals As Leaders display their talent through complex, well-thought-out musical melodies and movements, never making it feel like you’re being forced to simply admire their abilities but encouraging listeners to experience them instead.